496. With very fleshy people the neck is usually quite thick and sometimes quite baggy. There are extreme cases of goiter necks, which appear more conspicuously in the photograph than they really are in their normal condition. All such subjects can be very materially improved and very satisfactory pictures produced by a slight etching away of the objectionable portions.

497. In Illustration No. 32 we present a subject with a goiter neck which has been altered by etching. In Fig. 1 we have the subject as she actually appears; in Fig. 2 is illustrated the first stage of the alteration; in Fig. 3 we have the altered results complete. In altering a negative of this kind we begin first by outlining the neck to the collar line. It would be advisable for the student, in a case of this kind, or in fact a case of any alteration of any consequence, to always make a proof-print of the negative first and then with the pencil outline the first stage on the proof, following this outlining on the negative.

498. The outline on the negative is done with the point of the etching knife, gradually scraping or shaving a line which supplies the collar outline. With this done the first stage of the work is completed, as will be seen in Fig. 2. For the final stage all of the neck below the outline is etched away with the curved side of the blade. The etching away of the neck also supplies the collar to the dress. After the film is reduced and etched away, the harsh lines are then gone over and softened with a BB pencil and a slight high-light worked on the collar, which gives the dress a perfectly natural appearance, as will be seen in Fig. 3.